


Hoard

by Whedonista93



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Losers (2010), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, Crossover, Darcy is a Dragon, Hoard, Multi, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:47:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24587104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whedonista93/pseuds/Whedonista93
Summary: Darcy’s kind tend to keep to themselves. They’re obsessive, often to the point of possessive, and more often than not, they don’t interact well with one another, or anyone else. But Darcy has always been odd. She discovers that hoards don’t have to be things.She starts collecting people.
Relationships: Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez/Jake Jensen, Darcy Lewis & Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers
Comments: 54
Kudos: 486





	1. Hoard

Darcy has seen a lot of things in her time, but even she is more than a little in awe of Iron Man. She watches, along with the rest of the world, in amazement as Tony Stark rebuilds himself from the burning remains of the prison he blew up himself. Tony Stark is impressive, by any standard, and something deep within her itches, watching him, and she determines to pay more attention to him after the Iron Man announcement. 

Darcy’s kind tend to keep to themselves. They’re obsessive, often to the point of possessive, and more often than not, they don’t interact well with one another, or anyone else. But Darcy has always been odd. She discovers that hoards don’t have to be things.

She starts collecting people.

Jane is her first.

This lifetime, she’s going for a political science degree, mostly to stave off boredom. She’s not usually so scatterbrained, but she gets to her last semester before she realizes she never filled her science credit and desperately applies for an internship. Thankfully, she gets it. 

It takes all of two seconds for the scatter-brained genius to settle something inside her. Darcy has heard about hoards. She even has a few stockpiles of various riches that could be classified as hoards. But in all her centuries, she didn’t understand the big deal, the all-encompassing possessiveness, until the brunette whirlwind that is one Dr. Jane Foster scowls at her over a broken coffee pot and demands poptarts.

Then Erik walks in and her collection doubles.


	2. Hephaestus

By the time Tony Stark is attacked on the racetrack, Darcy recognizes that itch she gets under her skin when she watches him. It’s the same itch she gets when Jane or Erik are out of her sight for too long. It means he’s _hers_. She recognizes Hephaestus’ mark on the harness that holds the whips Stark’s attacker yields and sees red. She stocks up Jane’s lab with sandwiches, poptarts, coffee and water, kisses the scientist on the head, admonishes Erik he has to be the adult for a few days, and tells them she’ll be back as soon as she can.

It takes her a few days to find him, but eventually she tracks him to a facility in Queens and breaks into his office, waits for him with her feet propped on his desk. He smiles when he comes in and sees her. “Darcy.”

She inclines her head in acknowledgment and swings her feet to the floor. “Hephaestus.”

He grins. “It’s Hammer these days. Justin Hammer.”

She rolls her eyes. “I know.”

“To what do I owe the unexpected pleasure?”

She rolls her eyes. “Stow it, Fess.”

He frowns back. “Okay… I don’t even know what I did.”

“Stark,” Darcy growls.

He groans. “Oh come on. Don’t tell me you’re a Stark groupie.”

Her eyes blaze gold and she leaps over the desk, wings almost bursting out as she shoves right up into the god’s space. “He’s _mine_ , and you almost fucking killed him!”

Hephaestus balks. “Tony Stark is your Mate? Isn’t he with his CEO?”

She pokes him in the chest, heedless of her claws breaking his skin. “He doesn’t have to be my Mate to be mine.”

Thor feels like a memory of another life. Aside from her recent tiff with Hephaestus, it’s been ages since she’s rubbed elbows with gods. The other under his skin, even suppressed as it is, makes the other under her skin hum. He’s hers almost even more than Jane is, with the magic, the energy that flows around those that are not human. Once he regains his worthiness, his own _other_ , he cocks his head at her curiously, then offers a deep bow. “It is my honor to know you.”

Darcy smiles, too sharp, lets her eyes flash gold, and nods her head back. “And mine to know you.”

After Thor, they get brought into Stark Industries by way of SHIELD. Some lackey is showing them around the labs when Darcy catches sight of Tony through the glass of one of the labs. As if feeling her eyes on him, he looks up and meets her eyes through the glass. He grins and gestures for her to come in. She makes her way toward him, ignoring the protests of the intern showing them around, and heaves herself up onto a mostly empty worktable, never breaking eye contact with Stark.

He tilts his head. “Lewis, right?”

She grins. “You’ve heard of me?”

“Got a really weird apology from Justin Hammer. Mumbled something about pissing Darcy off.”

Darcy throws her head back and laughs. “Okay, I’m still pissed at him, but the fact that he apologized just ‘cause I growled at him…”

“So, two questions.”

“Shoot.”

“First, how does an intern know the CEO of a multinational company? And yeah, I know you know Thor, but this threat was definitely made before Thor. And second, why bother threatening him over someone you don’t know?”

Darcy cocks her head, considering how to answer. She’s never blatantly told anyone the truth before. “How willing are you to suspend some disbelief?”

Toby shrugs. “I’ve seen some shit, Lewis.”

“Got any privacy protocols in this place?”

“J - lock her up!”

The door slides shut and all the glass frosts over. 

Darcy nods approvingly. “Sound proof?”

“Of course.”

“Try not to scream, anyway?”

“Why would I -woah!”

Darcy doesn’t fully shift - there’s not enough room, but she lets her wings come out, allows her fingers to lengthen and nails to sharpen, blinks away her human eyes. Her fangs make speaking a little difficult, but by no means impossible. “I’ve known Hammer since long before he was Hammer.” She lets her human guise slide back into place. “His real name is Hephaestus, and it makes him grumpy that you’re good at his Thing. I told him that was no excuse to try to kill you.”

Tony takes a deep breath, then nods. “Okay, so you’re a Dragon, and Hammer is a psychopathic god. That answers so many questions, but only one that I actually asked.”

Darcy chuckles. “Somehow I’m not surprised you know about Dragons.”

His hand drifts to his chest.

Darcy eyes him curiously.

He heaves a sigh, then yanks off the ratty old band tee he’s wearing.

Darcy gasps. Just under his sternum is a glowing circle of gleaming metal and… “Is that Caladrius bone?” She can’t seem to stop herself from reaching out and brushing her fingers over it.

Tony nods. “The ones who had me in that cave… they kept one in a cage. Could barely even shift back to his human form, he was so messed up… he died while I was there. I didn’t even know they could die. His name was Yinsen. He made me promise to make them pay, no matter what it took.”

Darcy taps his chest. “You kept that promise.”

“I did.”

Darcy sniffs. “He was sick, you said?”

Tony nods. 

“That bone may be keeping you alive, but it’s also slowly killing you. If he was never free to purge whatever sickness he was carrying, you’re basically slowly feeding that into your system.”

Tony’s jaw drops. “Huh… I thought it was palladium poisoning.”

“I might be able to help. Give me a bit to put some feelers out.”

“You never answered why you care.”

“No, I didn’t.”

It only takes Tony two days of being around Darcy, and watching her with Jane, Erik, and Thor, to figure it out. He corners her in a kitchen on one of the lab levels in the middle of the night when she’s making a fresh pot of coffee. “Hoard!”

Darcy raises an eyebrow. “What?”

Tony’s eyes are a little manic. “Hoard! You made people your fucking hoard!”

Darcy rolls her eyes. “You say that like I did it on purpose.”

Tony mutters something incomprehensible under his breath.

Darcy pokes him in the chest until he looks up at her again. “When was the last time you slept?”

“Huh?”

She rolls her eyes harder. “JARVIS, when’s the last time the bossman slept?”

“It has been approximately sixty-one hours since Sir slept, Miss Lewis,” the A.I. answers promptly.

“Traitor,” Tony mumbles.

Darcy shakes her head and smacks his hand away from where it’s creeping toward the coffee pot. “Don’t you dare. Off to bed with you.”

“But-”

Darcy raises an “I will throw you over my shoulder and lock you in your room if I have to.”


	3. Other

Darcy is perfectly content with her little hoard of scientists - and Thor - and then Nick Fucking Fury has to go and start the Avengers Initiative.

Bruce joins her ranks of wacky scientists without so much as a conversation. She sees him, coos, ignores Tony’s snickers, and forces tea and food on him with a fond sort of aggression that seems to baffle him.

She walks into the Avengers common area looking for Thor and finds Clint asleep on the kitchen island. She rolls her eyes and helps him sleep walk/stumble over to the couch. He blinks up blearily as she tugs a blanket over him. “Darcy, right?”

She brushes his hair off his forehead and nods. “And you’re Clint.” She smiles. “I haven’t met a Gargoyle since the Renaissance. You guys never can stay awake during the day.”

Clint stiffens.

She brushes her hand through his hair again. “Relax. I’ll keep watch. Rest.”

Just like her kind doesn’t mix well with one another, they don’t always mix well with others who are _other_ , so Darcy is wary when she smells _Siren_ moments before Natasha walks into the room. The other woman freezes when she does come into the lab, and Darcy meets her eyes steadily.

Natasha tilts her head curiously. “Well, I didn’t expect this.”

Darcy smirks and very unsubtly eyes the redhead. “I kinda did.”

Natasha smiles back, and with that smile, sidles into Darcy’s hoard next to Thor and Clint.

Darcy is partially shifted, idly filing her claws, as her brother rambles on about his latest tech cache - she’s never met a Dragon who adapted better to modern times than her brother. She starts paying more attention when his rambling switches to rhapsodizing about the Shifter in his unit. She raises an eyebrow. “Does baby brother have a crush?”

Jake blushes beat red. “What? No!”

“Methinks he doth protest too much,” she singsongs. 

Jake flips her off. “What’s new with you big sister?”

Darcy frowns. “Have you ever heard of anyone collecting people?”

Jake raises an eyebrow. “Did you turn your merry bunch of misfits into your hoard?”

Darcy heaves a sigh. “Pretty much, yeah.”


	4. Mate

She hears a lot about the super soldier duo, but when Darcy moves into the Tower with Jane, Steve and Bucky are apparently at Tony’s place in Malibu with a whole slew of doctors and therapists. When Tony mentions they’re coming back, Darcy almost panics. She has her people, she has her hoard, and she’s worried what kind of disruption they’ll be. Then they walk through the door to the common room and Darcy’s world tilts, every instinct in her screaming _Hoard, Mine, Mate_ so loudly that she panics.

She flees and uses a sat link she shouldn’t have to video call her brother.

He answers within seconds. “D?”

She bites her lip, too-sharp teeth drawing blood.

Jake looks worried. “Darcy, seriously, what’s wrong?”

“If it felt _anything_ like this for you… I am so sorry for any shit I ever gave you about your Shifter.”

Her brother’s expression softens. “You found your Mate.”

Darcy nods.

Jake’s head tilts. “Who?”

Darcy grimaces. “I don’t know.”

An eyebrow raises over the rims of his glasses.

“Two guys walked into the room at the exact same time.”

Jake waggles his eyebrows with a lecherous grin. “Maybe it’s both.”

“I fucking hate you.”

She can’t bring herself to talk to either of them, but she immediately includes them in her hoard, which basically equates to a constant awareness of where they are and feeding them. When she realizes that Steve dresses like a grandpa and Bucky dresses like a hobo, she goes on a shopping spree, then breaks into their apartment. Tony is only too happy to help her burn all their old clothes. Both men shuffle around the Tower awkwardly for days after, but they’re much better dressed. Natasha eyes Darcy shrewdly, but never says anything.

Darcy nearly leaps out of her skin when Bucky manages to sneak up on her. “Why’d you do it?”

“How the hell are you so quie-” Darcy stops and blinks, actually looking at him, past the pretty surface, for the first time. “Holy shit! You’re a Wraith!”

Bucky goes very still, and briefly blurs around the edges.

Darcy forgets her wariness and moves right up into his space, poking and prodding. “Your control is incredible!”

He blurs a bit more and grabs her hands, trapping them against his chest. “Doll, if you have any self regard, you might wanna stop that.”

Darcy snorts. “You don’t scare me.”

“I should.”

She tilts her head, slowly becoming aware of their proximity, the instinct in her gut screaming _Mate_ returning with a vengeance.

“Why don’t I?”

“You would never hurt me,” she says with sudden confidence. “How bad did they scramble your brains?”

He stiffens, then flees.

Darcy finds him in one of the gyms almost two hours later. “I didn’t mean it like that, _tesoro_.”

Bucky startles.

Darcy steps toward him, but not into his space. “I just meant that you should be able to recognize what I am. If you could, you would know that you couldn’t hurt me even if you wanted to… and I don't think you want to.”

After the confrontation with Bucky, Darcy decides to get the other half of it over with. She bustles Bucky up to her apartment and bundles him onto her couch with a plate of brownies, a giant mug of hot cocoa, and _Recess_ reruns, then hunts Steve down. She finds him on the roof, sketching the eastern skyline. She just watches him momentarily, taking in his relaxed posture and his intense focus on the page.

“I don’t bite if you want to come closer,” Steve tells her, voice warm and happy.

Darcy chuckles. “What if I do?”

Steve shrugs. “Could be fun.”

Darcy throws her head back and laughs. “Alright, golden boy, has Tony heard you talk like that?”

He smirks. “Not yet.”

“I wanna be there when he does.”

Steve nods agreeably.

Darcy perches on the arm of his chair. “You’re good at that.”

He glances down at his sketch and shrugs. “Just helps me relax.”

Comfortable silence reigns between them.

Eventually, without looking up from his sketch pad, Steve speaks again, quietly. “Not that I mind the company, but is there something I can help you with?”

Darcy leans a little more heavily against his shoulder. “Can’t figure you out.”

“Maybe there’s nothing to figure out.”

Darcy rolls her eyes. “No.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “No…”

She nods. “Didn’t think so. What are you?”

Steve tilts his head back, looking up at her curiously.

She shrugs. “It’s rare, almost unheard of, for me to come across something I can’t recognize. Wraiths usually tend to run in packs, so with as close as you are to Bucky, that would be my first guess, but you’re too warm to be a Wraith.”

Steve goes very still, and he sets his sketch pad aside, turning in his chair enough to actually look at her. His eyes glow - practically liquid gold. “ _Oh_. You’re-”

“Yeah.”

“Your kind are rare these days.”

Her throat catches, eyes dimming with memory, mind flashing back to the days, so long ago, when her kind were hunted to near extinction, but eventually she manages a nod.

"My kind are even harder to find than yours," he tells her quietly.

She cocks her head. “There are not many creatures I don’t know, and I can’t peg you at all.”

He’s quiet for a long moment, just looking out over the city. “Do you know the mythology of Talos?”

“Hephaestus’ automaton. Gifted to Zues, then to Europa to defend Crete. Eventually defeated by Medea.”

Steve nods slowly. “Talos was not one creation. The Talos were Hephaestus’ own race.”

Darcy blinks. “I’ve been around a long time. A very long time. I saw Crete in the days of Talos. And I never heard even a whisper of more than the guardian of Crete.”

“They were a very closely guarded secret. The blood of the gods was, and still is, very valuable. A whole race of not-quite-living creatures walking the earth filled with it?”

Darcy shrugs. “I see your point.”

Steve’s lips twist wryly. “But?”

Darcy full on pouts. “But I consider that crazy bastard a friend. Why wouldn’t he tell me about his kids?!”

Steve’s jaw drops. “You’re _friends_ with Hephaestus?”

“We were until he tried to kill Tony.” Darcy scrunches her nose. “Though to be fair, I guess he did apologize for that.”

Steve shakes his head and chuckles. “You’re a wonder, Darcy.”

He reaches up and grasps her hand and the same instinct of _Mate_ rears its possessive head again. Darcy huffs, actually exhaling a bit of smoke.

Steve’s brow wrinkles in concern. “Are you okay?”

Darcy nods tightly. “Just fighting centuries of biological instinct.”

He cocks his head.

She shakes hers. “Please don’t ask.”

“Okay.”

“Just like that?”

He shrugs. “Have you met Bucky? I’ve kinda learned how and when not to push.”

Darcy smiles. “Yeah, actually, Bucky is sitting on my couch with brownies and hot cocoa watching cartoons.” She stands and holds a hand out. “Wanna join us?”

Steve grins back. “How could I say no to that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greek mythology: Talos was basically an automaton, powered by the blood of gods, created by Hephaestus. Gifted to Zues. Then Zues gifted it to Europa, and it defended Crete (essenitally super-heated and threw fireballs at enemies) until it was defeated by a witch. I'm essentially turning it from "Talos - individual automaton" to "Talos - race of living creatures created by Hephaestus".


	5. Claim

“You’ve gotta tell them,” Tony tells her over Ben & Jerry’s a couple weeks later.

Darcy pulls her spoon out of her mouth. “Tell who what?”

Tony rolls his eyes. “I’m not dumb, Lewis.”

“No shit, genius.”

“So don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about,” Tony admonishes, pointing his spoon at her. “The super soldier duo may be oblivious, but it fucking hurts you every time you touch them.”

“That’s not true!” Darcy protests.

Tony raises an eyebrow.

Darcy flinches. “Okay, maybe it’s a little true.”

“Look, Lewis… I’ve done a lot of research since you showed up… we’re your hoard, right?”

Darcy just nods, not trusting her words.

“And so are Rogers and Barnes, but they’re… something else, too?”

Another nod.

“So why does it hurt you to be around them? Is it because of whatever kind of creatures they are or…”

She shakes her head.

Tony groans. “Okay, I need words here… I’m pretty sure those two would literally kill themselves rather than knowingly hurt you, so what’s the deal?”

“Your research… anything about Mates in there?”

Both Tony’s brows raise to his hairline. “Some.” He scratches his head. “Wait… there was one… very old, super obscure text. I haven’t finished translating it yet, but there was something about denying a Mate… oh, Darcy.”

She closes her eyes. “I can’t… I won’t… they’ve both been forced into so many things. I don’t want them to feel like they’re obligated to me.”

Despite her efforts to distance herself from them, Darcy falls into a pattern with Bucky and Steve. In the Avengers off time, Darcy tends to feed everyone, and she’s made her open door policy clear, but Bucky and Steve seem to take up near permanent residence in her apartment. She learns Steve can’t be trusted to boil a pot of water, but he’s a master at nearly any type of breakfast. Bucky, however, makes the best coffee. Steve develops a habit of pulling her onto his lap while he’s sketching, the t.v. an idle drone in the background. Bucky has a knack for picking out her favorite old vinyl records and spinning her around the kitchen as the music plays. They usually end up in her apartment before they even hit the showers after a hard mission. Natasha eyes her shrewdly and Tony looks at her with nothing short of pity. It’s all the most painfully bittersweet thing Darcy has ever experienced… and she’s experienced a lot.

Darcy uses Christmas as an excuse to quietly lay claim to her hoard. She thinks most of them know what she’s doing, but none of them call her on it, and every one of them accepts their gifts, and she’s grateful for that.

She gives Jane a delicately crafted silver chain with a star cluster made of tiny jewels, and the astrophysicist immediately demands Darcy fasten it around her neck.

Erik gets an immaculately maintained early-seventeenth century pocket watch.

She gives Thor a set of bracers - early Viking with protection runes forged in the inner walls.

Tony gets a bottle of fine white powder - the ground bones of a healthy Caladrius - and a simply forged, deep red colored necklace chain that she knows he’ll enjoy trying to figure the origins of - eventually she’ll tell him; if one has the know-how, Dragon scales can be forged like metal.

She gives Bruce a set of worry beads she picked up in Greece toward the end of the Medieval era and he offers her a small smile as he wraps them around his wrist like a bracelet.

Clint gets a stone pendant - carved from the heart of the first Gargoyle she ever met, gifted to her on his death - with a gleaming bit of red scale in the center, on a thin leather band. He blinks at her owlishly, then holds it out to her and turns his back to her. “Burn the ends,” he requests. Darcy blinks the tears away and secures it around his neck.

Natasha reacts almost identically to Clint to the thin gold chain interwoven with gems so delicate the whole thing almost vanishes against her fair skin. 

Every one of them gets a simple band - black metal that gleams like obsidian - inscribed with the most powerful protection runes she knows.

After the team’s Christmas dinner, Bucky and Steve trail after her like puppies. Bucky flops onto her couch, pulling her down with him. “No presents for us, doll?”

Darcy bites her lip and won’t meet his eyes.

Steve sits on the coffee table in front of them and takes her hand. “Hey, he’s just teasing sweetheart. We don’t need anything.”

Darcy huffs something like a laugh. “I just… I didn’t want to give them to you in front of everyone else.”


	6. Control

Another day, another battle. Except this one isn’t going in the Avenger’s favor. Steve gets trapped - cornered by too many enemies. Darcy can see the way his skin starts to glow and curses. They’re still in the middle of the city - he’ll never forgive himself for the casualties if he loses control.

Jane tears her eyes from the screen long enough to glance at Darcy. “Darce?”

Darcy ignores her and activates the comm Tony gave her. “Steve, can you hear me?”

“Darcy?” Clint’s voice answers.

“Not now, Hawkass,” Darcy fires back as she stands and kicks her shoes off. “Steve, _angelo_ , are you with me?”

“Darce?” Bucky’s voice is strained.

Darcy flinches and curses. “Bucky, _tesoro_ , Steve’s losing control.” She’s answered by an impressive stream of curses. “I’m at the Tower, I don’t know if I can get to him in time.”

“Where is he?”

Darcy glances up at the screens again. “From you? Two blocks north, one block east.”

Her heart breaks at the dawning realization she sees on his face through the screen. “I’m gonna have to-”

Darcy opens the balcony door. “I’m fifteen blocks away, so yeah, probably.”

Another stream of curses, and Bucky starts to blur around the edges.

Darcy shifts her gaze back to Steve and curses. The heat is rolling off him in waves. “I’m on my way, _angelo_ , just hold it together.” Darcy has an errant thought that at the rate he’s heating up, his comm unit is probably melted, then leaps off the balcony, ignoring Jane’s cry of protest behind her. 

She shifts partially mid-air, just enough to get over the buildings and shift fully. She ignores the screams from below and cants her body toward Bucky and Steve. She hovers over them within the space of just a couple minutes, but she’s not quite fast enough. Even from above the buildings, she can feel the heat off of Steve, sees it incinerate several of the creatures attacking him before a roiling mass of shadow envelopes him. Even through the Wraith smoke, she can see Steve’s glow. She roars and dives, wrapping the whole of her massive body around the shifting mass of shadow and light, absorbs the heat as Steve loses the last of his control.

Until now, she’s avoided using her abilities to their full extent, but now… she can’t let Steve take on the kind of guilt she knows he would if they can’t get him calmed down. She can hear Bucky’s voice - shifting and wavering, like the shadows of his current form, muttering soothing nonsense. And she can feel the heat still rolling off Steve.

“Darce,” Bucky’s voice rolls through the space, “Somethin’ is wrong, doll. It ain’t workin’... he ain’t… he’s still heatin’ up and I can’t hold him.”

Darcy huffs and curls tighter around the pair, so she can blink one massive eye at them. She can’t talk in this form, but… well, a Dragon as old as her has tricks. Telepathy being one of the neater ones, under the right circumstances. She pushes her thoughts out, enveloping all three of them in the connection, and ignoring the mosquito-bite sting of the creature's weapons hitting her back. _Steve, angelo, I need you to breathe. You’re gonna hurt someone if you can’t regain control, and we don’t want that._

“D-D-Darcy?” Steve’s voice stutters out.

_It’s me. You with me?_

Steve nods.

_Can you reign it in?_

He shakes his head. “Too far gone. Too hot.”

Darcy curls tighter around them. _Okay, then let it go._

“Darce-”

Darcy rolls her eye at him. _Dragon, angelo, I can take it. It won’t hurt me._

He nods shakily. “Buck, you need to go.”

“No way in hell, punk,” Bucky growls.

“Bucky, it hurts you,” Steve whines.

_Bucky,_ Darcy placates gently, _I’ve got him_.

Bucky’s form shudders, but he goes, smoke filtering through the gaps where Darcy is curled around them.

As soon as Bucky is clear, Darcy curls tighter, leaving no gaps for the heat to escape to the outside world. _Let it go, angelo, I can take it._

Steve shudders as the heat bursts from his entire being, crashing into Darcy like a physical blow. Her body absorbs it effortlessly, leaving her feeling high like no fire she’s ever experienced before. Steve collapses with the release.

Darcy whines in the back of her throat.

Steve doesn’t respond.

_Bucky?_

“I’m here, doll!” Bucky’s voice comes from near her head.

She pauses. _Are you on my back?_

“Yup,” he says smugly.

She rolls her eyes. _Steve usually pass out after a release?_

Bucky snorts.

Darcy groans. _Get your mind out of the gutter._

“Yeah, he usually passes out.”

Darcy heaves a sigh.

Bucky curses. “Gonna make me lose my footing, doll.”

Darcy snorts. _You’d deserve it. Clear out the little monsters so we can get Steve outta here?_

“Already done,” Bucky heaves a dramatic sigh. “So little faith.”

_Get off my back so I can shift enough to get Steve out of here without knocking a building down._

“Darce… there’s cameras now. Someone’ll see you shift… see Stevie passed out.”

Darcy curses. 

Bucky chuckles. “Some of those languages are dead, doll.”

_Can you cause a distraction?_

“Nah, but Stark might be able to.”

_Ask him._

“Stark, can you hear me? Yeah, Darce needs a distraction. No, she’s not in the Tower. Steve got pinned down. She, uh, intervened. Yeah. No, she needs to get herself and Steve outta here, but we got cameras on us. Yeah.”

A couple minutes later, Darcy hears an explosion. _Did he just blow something up?_

Bucky snorts. “Yeah, and I’m scared to ask what, but it worked, only a couple of the cameras are still here.”

_Do something about them?_

“Like what?”

_I don’t know, shoot the cameras._

“I’ve got a better idea. Nat, Clint, where you guys at?”

Darcy wishes her head was at an angle where she could see what was going on, but a few minutes later, Bucky gives her the all clear.

Darcy takes a deep breath and unwinds herself from around Steve, shifting as quickly as she can, taking a mostly humanoid form, but leaving her wings almost their full size. She bends and lifts Steve’s limp form in her arms before turning and nodding in thanks to Nat and Clint, standing over the unconscious cameramen. Natasha snorts and produces a phone from somewhere, snapping a quick picture. Darcy winks and launches herself into the air, Bucky dissipating into smoke and following her. She briefly considers heading back to the Tower, but knows there’s too many cameras between here and there, so she goes high and follows the coastline instead, holding Steve close to her chest.

“Darce?” Bucky asks, swirling around her legs.

_Too many cameras back to the Tower. I have a safe house outside of New Haven, Connecticut._

They keep high, right along the coastline, until they reach Darcy’s little cabin in the woods. She carries Steve in the backdoor, mindful of her wings, and deposits him on the old leather sofa before fully shifting back.

Bucky clears his throat. “Uh, doll?”

She turns her gaze to him over her shoulder.

“Not that I’m complaining, but you’re very naked.”

Darcy blushes, more embarrassed that she forgot than by her actual nudity. “Right. Uh… side effect of a full shift. Kinda tends to burn my clothes off.”

Bucky smirks. “Like, I said, not complaining.” He settles into an armchair near the fireplace. “My two favorite people in their birthday suits… what the hell is there to complain about?”

Darcy’s head whips back toward Steve, noticing that he is, in fact, just as naked as she is. She turns back to Bucky with a raised brow.

Bucky shrugs. “Same issue as you. Too much heat.”

Darcy leans forward and tugs the blanket over the back of the sofa over Steve, and flicks her fingers toward the fireplace, lighting the stacked logs. She gestures toward the stairs that lead up to the loft. “I’m gonna grab some clothes.”

Bucky sprawls loosely and smirks. “Don’t bother on my account.”

Darcy flips him the bird over her shoulder. She quickly steps into a pair of underwear and snaps a bra on before tugging an oversized sweater dress on.

“He’s wakin’ up, Darce,” Bucky calls.

Darcy takes a deep breath. _Time to face the music._

“What music?” Bucky calls.


	7. Confrontation

“Fuck,” Darcy mutters, realizing she hadn’t severed the mental connection she’d established earlier.

“Darcy?” Steve’s voice sounds panicked.

“Fuck.” She bounds down the stairs. “Coming, _angelo_.”

Steve is sitting up on the couch, wide-eyed, with Bucky kneeling in front of him.

Bucky looks up and shakes his head. “He’s not calming down.”

Darcy vaults over the back of the couch and cups his face in her hands. “Hey, I’m right here. We’re both right here.”

Steve’s breathing slows and his expression smooths over. “What - why - I… Did you do a full shift in the middle of New York?”

Darcy grimaces. “I might’ve.”

“And… were you talking in my head?”

“Yeah.”

“You… I was on the edge. I was over the edge. But I heard you. I’ve never been able to hear anyone but Bucky before.”

“I think you’ve got some explaining to do, doll,” Bucky says softly.

Darcy doesn’t look either of them in the eyes, slowly running her hands over Steve, checking for injuries.

Steve catches her hands. “I’m not hurt, sweetheart. Just real damn confused.”

Darcy pulls her hands back to wring them in her lap. “I wasn’t ever going to say anything… you guys were never supposed to know.”

Steve reaches over and rests a hand over hers. “Know what, sweetheart?”

Skype ringing on from the computer desk in the corner saves her from answering. She nearly sprints to the computer, and almost cries when she sees her brother’s name. She answers with a wobbly smile. “Jake.”

Jake frowns back at her. “Darcy. Wanna tell me why I’m scrubbing CCTV footage of a dragon in the middle of fucking New York City?”

Darcy winces. “Did you get it all?”

“Duh. And Captain Fucking America lighting up like a damn Glo Worm and the Winter Soldier turning into the shadow man. I got all of it and if anyone else had a copy of you or your boyfriends less than human moments, their hardware is going to be melted to putty.”

Darcy crops into the computer chair, relief seeping into every inch of her being. “You’re the best, little brother. And they aren’t my boyfriends.”

“We’re not?” Bucky asks at the same time Jake scoffs, “No, they’re a fuckton more than than that.”

Darcy groans and buries her face in her hands.

Jake balks. “They’re there?! Darcy, why the fuck didn’t you say?!”

She parts her fingers enough to glare at her brother through them. “I’m telling Cougar.”

“Darcy!”

“Fair’s fair. I am telling Cougar.”

Cougar appears out of the shadows in the background. “Telling me what?”

Jake leaps out of his seat. “Fuck! Cougs… give me a heart attack, why don’t you? Get you a fucking bell…”

Cougar ignores Jake and raises a brow at Darcy, silent question on his face.

Darcy smirks.

Jake whines. “Darce, don’t you fucking dare…”

She feels someone come up behind her, then a hand on her shoulder. She reaches up and grabs it, identifying Bucky by the callouses.

“You tell, I tell,” Jake threatens.

“You already might as well have fucking outed me, asshole.” Darcy shifts her gaze back to Cougar and her eyes go wide. “Cougs, let me see that cuff. The one on your left wrist with the red stone.”

Cougar raises an eyebrow, but holds his wrist up to the camera.

She sighs. “He already fucking told you, didn’t he?”

Cougar pulls his wrist back and nods.

She glares at her brother. “I fucking hate you.”

In the reflection on the computer screen, she sees Steve come up behind Bucky, wrapping an arm around the other man’s waist and resting his free hand on Darcy’s other shoulder. “Darce?”

Darcy sighs. “Steve, Bucky, this asshole is my baby brother Jake. Jake, Steve and Bucky.”

Steve nods. “Nice to meet you.”

Jake’s eyes narrow. “Those rings… oh, Darce... Sis, you’ve gotta tell ‘em.” 

Darcy feels both men take their hands off her shoulders, looking at the rings on their fingers, and closes her eyes so she doesn’t have to see their expressions. “I know.”

_After the team’s Christmas dinner, Bucky and Steve trail after her like puppies. Bucky flops onto her couch, pulling her down with him. “No presents for us, doll?”_

_Darcy bites her lip and won’t meet his eyes._

_Steve sits on the coffee table in front of them and takes her hand. “Hey, he’s just teasing sweetheart. We don’t need anything.”_

_Darcy huffs something like a laugh. “I just… I didn’t want to give them to you in front of everyone else.”_

_Bucky grins. “Just us now, doll.”_

_Darcy rolls her eyes and gets up, going to her room for the two small boxes stashed in the back of her sock drawer. She takes a deep breath and forces a casual expression as she walks back into the living room and tosses the wrapped boxes - gold for Steve and silver for Bucky - to the men._

_Darcy waves her hands impatiently, trying to hide her nerves. “Well, open them!”_

_They rip into the paper like little kids, expressions turning serious as they pop open the boxes under the paper._

_Darcy bites her lip and speaks quietly. “I noticed you guys didn’t wear rings. I figured it was probably because last time you guys were awake, it wasn’t really… acceptable. I thought… if you don’t want them it’s okay. I won’t take offense or anything. I know it’s really personal.”_

_Steve pulls his ring out of the box and examines it carefully. Bucky does the same. The rings are identical - bright red interior - forged from her own scales, the exterior twined vibranium and gold pounded smooth._

_Steve has tears in his eyes when he looks up at her. “They’re perfect, sweetheart.”_

_She clears her throat. “Bucky, yours is sized for your right hand, but if you want it on your left, Tony volunteered to integrate it into your prosthetic.”_

_Bucky shakes his head, eyes still on his ring. “N-no. Right’s fine. I wanna be able to feel that I’m wearin’ it.”_

_They both slide the rings into place on their hands, and a few more pieces of Darcy’s soul seem knit themselves into place. She doesn’t mention the matching ring on a chain around her neck._

Jake shoots her one last pitying look before he disconnects.

Darcy lets her head thud onto the desk. “Does it count as murder if the person you murder doesn’t _actually_ exist?”

Steve chuckles. “You don’t actually wanna kill your brother, sweetheart. You’d miss him.”

Darcy grumbles unintelligibly.

Gentle hands pull her shoulders back and spin her around.

She glances up at them through her hair.

Bucky brushes her hair away from her eyes. “Doll…” He trails off, shakes his head, and picks her up.

She squeaks in protest, but throws her arms around his neck instinctively. He settles on the couch, settling her in his lap and tossing her legs over Steve’s lap as he settles next to them.

Steve wraps his hands around her calves, kneading gently. “Talk to us, sweetheart. We know you’ve been keepin’ something from us, but we were tryin’ to give you time to tell us on your own.”

“But it’s hurtin’ you, doll. And that hurts us.”

“I’m sorry,” Darcy mutters to her lap, tears falling down her face. “I’m so sorry.”

“We’ve got an idea, sweetheart,” Steve chucks her chin up gently, “but we need you to tell us.”

“You have an idea, huh?” She mumbles miserably.

“Tony left a book out in the common room,” Bucky tells her.

Darcy curses.

_Tony groans. “Okay, I need words here… I’m pretty sure those two would literally kill themselves rather than knowingly hurt you, so what’s the deal?”_

_“Your research… anything about Mates in there?”_

_Both Tony’s brows raise to his hairline. “Some.” He scratches his head. “Wait… there was one… very old, super obscure text. I haven’t finished translating it yet, but there was something about denying a Mate… oh, Darcy.”_

Bucky squeezes her shoulders. “I don’t think he realized anyone would be able to read it. The language it’s written in died a long time ago.”

“But not long enough ago that I couldn’t read it,” Steve adds gently.

“Are we your Mates, sweetheart?”

Darcy closes her eyes, fighting the tears. “I was never going to tell you guys.”

“Do you not want us?”

Darcy’s eyes snap open. “That is not the issue.”

Bucky chuckles. “Okay, then what is?”

She takes a deep breath. “Both of you… your choice has been taken from you on so many things for so long. I wasn't going to be one of those things.”

Bucky squeezes her tightly and buries his face in the nape of her neck. “Oh, doll.”

Steve scoots closer and rests a hand over her waist. “Sweetheart, oh, Darce… how could you think we wouldn't want you?"

"In case you didn't notice, we've been courtin' you basically since day one," Bucky rumbles against her skin. 

"Because we _wanted_ to, Darce," Steve clarifies before she can argue. "Because we _want_ you."

Darcy shakes her head. "But-"

"But nothing, doll," Bucky cuts her off. "Dragons may have Mates, but Wraiths don't."

"Talos don't," Steve adds.

"We want you because we want you," Bucky says.

"Not because of some biological urge," Steve says, reminding her off the first time they spoke.

"Unless lust counts,” Bucky grins briefly.

Steve leans forward enough to smack him upside the back of his head.

Bucky sobers again. “We didn't push because we weren't sure if you wanted us beyond the biological urge of the Mate bond."

Darcy laughs wetly. "Have you met yourselves? You're kinda perfect. The Mate bond… it's not just Fate trying to fuck with Dragons. It's based on compatibility. Literally the perfect complement, or complements."

Bucky finally pulls his face out of her neck. "We thought you were just takin’ your time, not that you thought we were just friends.”

“If friends is all you want, sweetheart, tell us now, so we can at least pretend we don’t wanna peel you out of that sweater.”

Darcy snorts out a watery laugh. “I still wanna hear you make a comment like that in front of Tony.”

Steve smiles and shakes his head. “Tell us you’re ours, Darce, and I’ll say absolutely anything you want in front of anyone you want.”

Darcy laughs again, and this time she can’t stop, hysteria setting in. Bucky holds her close until both her laughter and her tears run their course, rubbing her back gently.

“I’m yours,” she tells them quietly. “I have been since the moment I watched you walk into the Tower.”


	8. Epilogue

“Darcy!” Tony yells.

“Tony!” Darcy calls back without looking up from where she’s treating Roque’s burns.

“Why are there a bunch of supposed-to-be dead mercenaries on my patio?”

Darcy looks up with a grin. “Stark, meet the Losers. Losers, Tony Stark. They made a bit of a mess in L.A. and since we were in Miami anyway, I sent Steve and Bucky to pick them up.”

“Not that I mind flipping the bird to the government, but… why?”

Darcy lifts one hand long enough to point to Jake. “Nerd over there drooling over your holographic tech is my baby brother Jake.” She pokes one of Roque’s less vicious burns and sticks her tongue out when he curses. “What the hell made you idiot think triple-crossing a CIA super spook was a good idea. It’s a fucking miracle none of you asshole’s died! I mean, fuck, Roque! Why the hell were you still on that plane?”

He mumbles something unintelligible before passing out.

Darcy rolls her eyes and pats his cheek. “You’re easier to patch up when you're not mouthing anyway.” She deftly finishes seeing to his wounds before moving on to Pooch.

The driver tries to wave her off.

She pokes at the nearest bullet hole.

“Fuck, D!”

She rolls her eyes. “Your wife will kill me if she finds out I let these sit.”

He rolls his eyes and waves in a ‘get on with it’ type gesture.

Darcy removes the bullets as quickly as she can.

Pooch bites his lip.

“Sorry… want me to knock you out before I…” She waves her fingers, flames dancing over them.

Pooch groans. “Please.”

Darcy punches him.

Tony winces. “You know I’ve got drugs in this place, right?”

Darcy shrugs. “They all deserve to be punched at this point.”

Clay strides out onto the patio, holding an ice pack to his jaw. “Trust me, she’s making her rounds.”

“Pretty sure Cougs is the only one who’s gonna escape,” Jake mutters petulantly. 

“That’s because Cougs was just following your dumbass,” Darcy fires back, finishing tying off the bandages over Pooch’s legs. “Who’s next? Jake?”

Her brother shakes his head. “Worst of my damage is the black eye you gave me. Did you have to break my glasses?”

Darcy rolls her eyes. “It’s not like you actually need them. Cougar?”

The Shifter shakes his head.

“Already healing?”

“ _Si._ ”

“Good. Clay, come on.”

The colonel shakes his head. “Get Aisha first.”

Darcy snarls. “Fuck your girlfriend and the horse she rode in on. If I touch her right now and I’m more likely to incinerate her than treat her wounds. Now get your ass over here.”

Clay drops into the chair in front of her, submitting to her patching him up with minimal grumbling. “You’re gonna have to come around to her eventually.”

Darcy snorts, smoke expelling from her nostrils. “Like hell I will.”

Steve joins the ragtag group, carrying a bottle of painkillers.

Darcy beams and lifts her face for a kiss. “You’re the best.”

He leans over and kisses her chastely, mindful of their audience. “Your wish is my command.”

Tony snorts. “He talk like that in the bedroom?”

“When I ask him to,” Darcy answers without missing a beat.

Tony gapes, but recovers quickly, then cocks his head curiously when Steve goes to sit next to Jake. “Anyone ever point out how much your boyfriend looks like your brother?”

Darcy wrinkles her nose. “You’re disgusting, Stark.”

Clay snorts. “He kinda has a point.”

“I mean, sure, Cap is taller, broader, darker hair, but the general look…” Tony shrugs. 

Darcy clumps forward, burying her head against Clay’s knees. “I hate you all.”

“What’d I do?” Bucky protests, wiggling a coffee cup under her nose.

Darcy straightens and snags the cup, kissing Bucky’s arm as it passes her face. “Nothing, _tesoro_ , I still like you.”

He rests his hand on her shoulder and squeezes gently. “Good. Everyone all patched up?”

“Everyone but the bitch,” Darcy answers in a chipper tone.

Bucky rolls his eyes, then deftly picks her up, takes her seat, and deposits her back down in his lap. “So why do you hate everyone?”

Darcy pouts. “They all think Steve looks like Jake.”

Bucky grins against her neck. “They’re not wrong.”

Darcy jerks away, a sound of protest escaping her lips. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

Bucky tightens his arms around her waist. “I am, doll. I wasn’t done. There’s a passin’ resemblence, sure, but I’m willin’ to bet Jake’s missin’ a few things. Like that scar Stevie’s got on his right hip,” he taps Darcy’s hip, right where they both know Steve’s scar rests, “or the tattoo on his thigh,” his hand drifts down to tap her right thigh, “or the birthmark on his ass,” his other hand sneaks around to pinch her left butt cheek.

Steve is trying to hide his grin behind his coffee mug.

Jake looks like he’s trying not to puke. “There are things I do not need to know. Knowing my sister is sleeping with someone is one thing. Watching her go all glaze-eyed over her other boyfriend being a perv is a whole other level of _ew_.”

Darcy snorts. “Like I haven’t had to listen to you rhapsodize about Cougar’s ass and licking his tattoos.”

Cougar’s shoulders shake in silent laughter.

Tony is a little wide-eyed. “Cap! How the… you’re just gonna sit there and let them tell everyone all your… really?!”

Darcy winks at Steve.

Steve grins back. “Sure am, Stark.”

Tony gapes.

Steve turns his gaze toward Tony and his grin turns mischievous. “I mean, I can let them keep going, or I can start. Tell you about the hickey Buck left on my pec, or the one Darce left on my inner thigh. Tell you about the Dragon Darce drew on my ass with an ink pen. Or about-”

“ _Aagh_!” Jake slaps his hands over his ears.

Tony’s jaw is still dropped. “Darce… how bad did you corrupt Cap?”

Bucky snorts. “Stark, we’re from Brooklyn, he toured with the USO, and we were in the Army. You really think the punk was innocent before we met Darce?”

“Uhh…”

Darcy rolls her eyes. “Steve may be Cap, Stark, but Cap isn’t Steve.”

“Getting that,” Tony mutters weakly.

Darcy sticks her tongue out and makes a broad gesture, generally indicating herself, Bucky, and Steve. “This is all your fault, you know. If you’d never left that damn book out…”

“You’d still be miserable,” Tony shoots back. “But my childhood innocence would still be intact.”

Darcy snorts. “Right, ‘cause that was ever a thing.”

Tony smirks. “Well, when you have more money than sense… back to the original issue, what are we gonna do with a bunch of wanted mercenaries?”

Darcy cocks her head. “How do you feel about taking on the CIA?”

The manic light that springs to Tony’s eyes is precisely why Darcy likes him so much.


End file.
